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tv   The Young Turks With Cenk Uygur  Current  March 21, 2013 4:00pm-5:00pm PDT

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pin them. just pin them. you're done. [ whistle ] hillary clinton, i'm glad you got your e-mails hacked. you're done sending and receiving e-mails in comic sands. these are top secret bits of correspondent. not third grade art project. once you're secretary of state i think you graduated to a sarah. hillary clinton, you're done. and finally cvs. you're done telling health insurance applicants you're going to make them tell you their weight. it's an invasion of privacy. plus they are american so you already know the answer, kind of chubby. how to fix this problem and create thousands of new jobs. start hiring carnival weight guessers. i'm done talking now. drop and give me 50-thousand. >> michael: of course i'm joined with brett erlich right now.
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brett, really interesting stuff how long have you been a coach? i mean, fake coach? >> it's funny you asked that. i spent years as a fake assistant. when i was really little i used to hand water to the players. >> michael: there is nothing in there. >> fake water. >> michael: obviously you were a fake coach. >> mm-hmm, good at it. >> michael: yeah, you're good at it but there is not a market for fake coaching. >> not yet. i'm creating the fake market that will lead to a windfall of lake market. >> michael: brett, you're done. >> thank you. >> michael: there is always someone in our war room. link up with us at current.com current.com/thewar room. i'll be hosting "the young turks" right after this broadcast. i'll be back here for "the war room" on monday. have a great fantastic war room weekend. thanks to brett erlich, my fake assistant here tonight. see you on "the young turks."
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michael: welcome to tomasky. we have a great thursday show for you today. the president is in israel, is it barack or bar mitzvah? >> political leaders will not take risks unless the people push them. you must create the change that you want to see. michael: he fights the sodas the obesities now the u.s. senate, mayor bloomberg in new york. >> in the end that congress has to decide is is it politically popular or whether the hard thing is the right thing to do.
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michael: and this jodie arias trial of which i've heard very little is literally turning the legal community on its head. >> soon after the investigator walked out the door, jodie walks to the wall and does a head stand. actually, it's yoga pose. michael: it's chenk uygur's birthday. it is go time. ♪ theme ♪ michael: in a trip tole middle east that was marked by a lot of people saying why is he going there's no peace plan, no triangulated talks arranged, but the president made a really good speech getting tails and function wagging in the middle east.
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he spoke to israeli students today. there's your president, barack obama. >> you have the opportunity to be the generation that permanently procures. >> the speech was build as the centerpiece to the trip to the middle east. he met with tomasky president and appealed for peace between the israelis and palestinians. obama: if we can get direct negotiations started again, i will that the shape of a potential deal is there. michael: that's action's tahman bradley covering the president in israel. today, there was a palestinian bomb blast in southern israel, but it has been a fairly amicable and quiet time while the president has been there. we are fortunate to discuss the president's trip with david
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siegel the consul. tell me about what you were he can specking from the president's trip before it even happened. i had very low expectations. >> i think there have been low expectations if the general press, but i think we were very excited about this trip. it's his first trip to israel as president of the united states we're the first country in the second term that he chose to go to. his mental in terms of the past present, future, the. >>ish connection to the land, the challenges that we face, be it iran, syria and restarting the peace negotiations in the future, which is his vision a vision we share a vision of two states the people of israel and palestinians working together for the betterment of the middle east. we think it's a very exciting
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moment. michael: tell me, president obama hasn't been to israel yet this is the first time he's been there. how big an issue is that not only for the israeli government, but for the israeli people. >> it is a big deal, and a celebration of the relationship. given everything that's happening in the middle east and threats and challenges that we face on all these fronts now that kind of message that the united states is together with israel and palestinian people working together through these challenges and seizing those opportunities of the future is a message that i think especially younger generation, and to give a speech to the israeli youth and palestinian youth is a big deal. michael: he reiterated the necessary peace negotiations between israel and palestinian. obama: negotiations will be necessary, but there's a little secret about where must lead, two states for two peoples.
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palestinians must recognize that israel will be a jewish state and that israelis have the right to insist upon it for that you are security. israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counter productive to the cause of peace and that an independent palestine must be viable with real borders that have to be drawn. [ cheers and applause ] michael: judging by ovations alone, what the penalty said about stopping the settlement process got a bigger ovation than palestinians must recognize an israeli state but that doesn't mean anything. they're both popular passions with the audience. how is that going to be covered and resonate in israel? >> the surgeon of moving forward with the palestinians is an urgency that we share. we're object the record calling for renewed negotiations, discuss the issues, including settlements with no preconditions, just to get our leaders talking again. it's been four years with very little peace negotiations and we
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share that objective of moving forward on that. he also said something else, that settlement is an issue that need to be dealt with, but there are other issues and you can't put the cart before the horse. we need to sit down, negotiate that issue, but other issues that we need to resolve, as well. it was an important statement to both sides. >> it was an important statement. i remember when joe biden visited israel and they had great meetings and while he was there, they started building further settlements. it caused a big problem with the way he was received in israel. how big a deal? you said there were other things they discussed, but these settlements seem to be universally possible. how i am movable is the israeli government on this right now. i think both sides see a different cart and a different horse. >> but both sides also agree that we need to talk. you need to talk, there are things that we won't agree on, things that we will agree on more readily and we need to get going.
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i think that was the message here. in terms of settlements israel's been very responsible in recent years you. mentioned what happened when vice president joe biden visited israel. that was inside jerusalem. there are differences inside jerusalem and outside jerusalem. we are on the record waiting to do that negotiating and hopefully in the spring, that will be started. michael: let's listen to the president talking about the people and how this peace has to start with the people. obama: where peace begins, not just in the plans of leaders but in the hearts of people. political leaders will never take risks if the people do not push them to take some risks. you must create the change that you want to see. [ cheers and applause ] michael: is this a way of getting to the israeli people without having to deal with netanyahu? of course you have to deal with him, but it's no secret that
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their relationship has not been warm and fuzzy over the years. the president is going right to the people and doing a lot i think it's a lot like what he did in cairo at the very beginning of his first term. do you see that, do you see an aanalogous situation? >> the in tent was that president obama would come to the middle east and speak to the people of the middle east, our people, as well within the entire region and world about the importance of u.s.-israel relations, restarting peace. tackling challenges that we face and seizing the opportunities of the future. i think he touched on all those. he spoke to our people. he also spoke to the palestinian people. the message was let's get moving on these negotiations. michael: let's listen to that, to him talking about the
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palestinians, as well. michael: the palestinian people's right to determination right to justice must be recognized. it is not fair that a palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of their own. just as israelis built a state in their homeland. palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land. michael: that comparison has not always worked in israel. why do you think it falls on ears now? >> because we do support a palestinian state, two states for two peoples and sharing the recognition of mutual self determination, that they have the right to that and we have the right to that. the problem has been in our eyes that the palestinians, although we want them to be our partners and negotiation have been unwilling to come to the table in recent years. in fact, they don't recognize our right to either be a people or to express our national determination the way we accept
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theirs. we need to trade. we need to sit down, we need to renew this. i hope very much that this visit will be a big push and that the skeptics will be proven maybe a little bit wrong that things will start moving forward. michael: even when you walked into the building today there seemed to be a lightness about you, happy with the way this trip has gone. maybe sometimes lowering the bear as on this trip where there isn't much of an expectation can lead to progress rather than having huge expectations of peace and treaties from the very get-go. do you think that is true? >> i think that's a very good point. in the years we've been through this the ups and downs there were very heightened expectations that in reality it's hard to meet and that spelled trouble in maybe cases. i think you're seeing now a much more mature effort to carefully move forward without promising the moon when you really can't in the complexities of the
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middle east. it is a complex case today. you mentioned there was rocket fire into israel this morning hamas from gaza, going e. doing that at the same time the president is in israel. the president of iran is calling for the destruction of tel aviv. amazing. michael: he said that today. >> you have all of these messages in the middle east and the people of israel that feel sometimes somewhat beleaguured truly all of this are being convey the message that the united states is with you let's move forward. michael: i agree. another place the bar was lowered was on the president's speaking hebrew. obama: [ speaking hebrew ] [ cheers and applause ] michael: shalom is an easy one. give me how you would say it?
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>> i'd give him a 10 for effort. michael: that's all make matters, david siegel is the consul general from israel here in los angeles. thank you for coming into "the young turks." thank you. >> we will talk about the budget when we come back. paul ryan's at it again. >> borrowing more and spending more is not a path to prosperity. it is not going to give us a healthy economy. billy zane stars in barabbas. coming in march to reelz. to find reelz in your area, go to reelz.com
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the chill of peppermint. the rich dark chocolate. york peppermint pattie get the sensation.
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>> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. >> the motion is adopted without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. michael: the scene from the house floor where paul ryan's budget barely passed, two votes. it was 221-207 that sounds like 14 votes but it was two more than they actually needed. there was a small margin for
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this budget, a lot of republicans voting against it who you wouldn't have thought would, not a single democratic came out in support. the american people roundly rejected the ryan budget during the elections last year. ryan said it's not because of the budget that romney and mr. ryan lost, but there were other things that played there as well. let's listen to representative paul ryan. >> this is a good week for all us represents, a week where we bring to the country a responsible, balanced budget. the reason we are balancing our budget is because it is a necessary means to an end which is to improve people's lives. we balance the budget without raising taxes. we're actually growing the economy. it appropriates a fasters a healthier stronger economy to create more jobs. michael: the reason a lot of republicans probably voled against this bill is it doesn't stand a prayer in the senate. it is not going to pass the
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senate. this is almost a symbolic vote. they voted on this ryan budget now a number of times amounted i had has not really passed ever. john boehner was happy because what they did also today was approve by 318-109 a federal spending bill to keep the government funded through september 30, which averts a march 27 shutdown of the government. here is the speaker of the house excited by the vote. >> it is a good day for the american people. every family in america must balance their budget. today, us republicans passed our bold plan to balance the budget over the next 10 years. this budget does more than just balance. it helps improve people's lives and addresses the things i think they most care about fixing the tax code lowering rates means more jobs and higher wages for the american people. michael: and when we need to dig into something like the ryan budget, something like the
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government showdown, we go to someday who knows a lot better than we do chris moody. thanks for being on "the young turks" today. tell us what happened today. it's not just the ryan budget. wasn't the affordable care act in play today, as well. >> it was. the ryan budget is similar to ones they've passed before. this one repeals obama care completely out of this budget blueprint, but retains the revenue lines for the future. let's say obama care increased certain taxes. the ryan budget allowed that revenue. it does balance the budget in 10 years while his past did in 30 years. the balancing is key that the republicans are going to be pounding away for several months going toward the 2013 mid term
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elections. michael: hearing that, we listen to ryan, boehner i listen to what you're saying about obamacare you and i both know the reality that this is not going to pass the senate. what is this had muted ecstasy we are hearing out of ryan and boehner over this ryan budget passing and the government shutdown being averted? >> well, there's a lot of misconceptions about what these budgets are. they're largely political documents meant to set fort the vision of a party. they're not at all setting spending projections for the government. the is that the, the democrats in the senate are going to pass their own budget that has vastly different spending priorities and it basically allows the parties to put forth their vision for the future in front of the american people and then we can have an open debate about what the american people want. it can be argued that in 2012 that republicans got shot down, but they're trying again. i think now they're going to
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try it with a little bit of a different route, focusing on that balanced budget that they think they can win in 2014 in ways that they couldn't in 2012. michael: tell the lay person, chris, why they're doing it again. if it's the exact same thing what do they gain by doing it again when they know it's going to be shot down in the senate. >> it's difficult to say. the senate knows that its budget is not going to pass the house either, but they gain putting their position out there. now that makes them vulnerable, because paul ryan, let's take the medicare overhaul. that is ripe for the picking when democratics making ads to the 2014 cycle but republicans have made a determination that this i also something that they want to stand on and something that eventually they can pass someday. now you did note that it was a slim vote. it passed 220, two votes more than they needed. they got complete democratic rejection in the house but got a
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few republican that is didn't vote for it either the. michael: let's go to the senate, to guns. the news of the day is that harry reid is saying that background checks are going to be in the bill that they sent to the senate, chuck schumer's version of that. vice president was in new york, at city hall with michael bloomberg. let's listen to them in new york and we can talk about that. >> it has been 97 days since newtown. in that time, we estimate that more than 3,000 americans have been murdered with guns. if congress does nothing another 12,000 people will be murdered with guns this year alone. >> there's not one single thing being proposed, not one not one, not one that infringes bonn anyone's second amendment constitutional rights. michael: sounds like there's not one single thing that is going to infringe on american's
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rights. there is not going to be an assault weapons ban as part of that bill. why is that and do you think this bill with background checks is going to be able to pass the senate? >> it's going to be a tough sell. liberals are going to be disappointed in the final product of the guns bill. harry reid did not put the assault weapons ban in because he knows that that's going to further along its demise. without it, it probably faces a better shot. what read is doing is allowing and amendment to go to be attached to that bill and there will be a vote on that. granted, that amendment to ban assault weapons will probably voted down, but it's still yet to be seen if they can get the votes for this thing. then you have to remember that this is going to go to the house and they are going to have to pass it there too. for advocates of gun restrictions, they are really
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not out of the woods yet. michael: tell me why he would keep the assault weapons ban out of the bill but something you think is going to have a long shot, the background checks. does he want to get people on record on one of them. >> i think background checks, it polls quite a bit better than any of the other provision us. people think they are something necessary. it's easy to message but it's also more palatable. you can bring on a couple of republicans on that in a way you certainly could not bring them on an assault weapons ban. harry reid's playing politics. he's done it a long time, he's very good at it. i think he expects at least something to go through. michael: chris moody always great, follow chris on twitter and read him on yahoo news. thank you, again chris for being here. when we come, the jodie arias trial. you knew she could kill. did you know she could sing? ♪
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♪ theme ♪ (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.
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michael: when i saw arias on the sheet today i thought good, we're going to be talking about the former puerto rican president, that's because i'm a loser. we are talking about jodi arias and the trial costing tacker pairs $1 million. so far it has cost $838,000. let's look at a little bit of the history of this trial as she is questioned. this from at-bats. >> the psychologist who made
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$250 an hour evaluating the 32-year-old admitted killer diagnosed her with ptsd. he said the stress of shooting and stabbing her exboyfriend travis alexander caused her to forget committing the crime. >> you made it up. >> no, clinical judgment, sir. >> he was forced to acknowledged arias lied to him during the test. back then, she said she was so traumatize because she had to watch helplessly as masked intruders killed alexander. she later claimed she did it in self defense. >> perhaps i should have readministerred the test. michael: this doctor who the prosecutor absolutely ripped was back on the stand today answering. >>s' questions close to 100 questions. that's legal to do in arizona. the prosecution has really gone after that expert witness.
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with us today to talk about this linda kenny baden a former criminal prosecutor, she's turned trial attorney and now focuses on clinical defense. when you see an expert on the other side like that, are you just drooling when you're sitting at the table. >> of course you are but the problem is that trials aren't a game and this is a death penalty case. that's why it's costing the taxpayers so much. i'm sure if a deal was offered for first degree murder, they probably would have done so. the jurors are just very interested in this case with 100 questions. they are looking to whether or not they want to kill her. i think they're looking ahead. i think they probably in their minds figured out that she did it intentionally and they're thinking about the future. >> jodi arias has admitted to doing this, changing her story that she did it in self defense.
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in the interrogation room, originally after the interrogators left, take a look at this. >> i did not hurt travis. >> soon after the investigators walk out the door, jodie does a head stand. actually it's a yoga pose. >> you should have put on your makeup. >> she sings about the one thing people can't stop talking about when it comes to her trial. >> i don't remember. >> her memory. ♪ i couldn't hear you you breathe. i wonder how am i still here. i don't want to move a thing. it might change my memory ♪ michael: apparently, that's a dido song she was singing. i know you knew that.
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the jury is not going to be able to see this tape. why not? >> because it's so prejudicial because you hate her so much, because she's a socio path, including the bat singing. it's a death penalty trial. i'd put it in at the penalty phase, because it shows she's so messed up in the head, you can't kill her. michael: one of the things messed up about her was that she, after killing her husband travis alexander went to utah to see another man and kissed a man. that here's the testimony on that subject. >> you kiss another man when you knew what you just did to travis. this was just hours afterward. one of the reasons i went to utah is because it was expected of me. i thought by not showing up, it would look even more suspicious. ryan and i talked extensively about things we might do when i would get there including the romantic. that was expected of me. i just showed up and didn't want
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anything to do with hill, he might think that strange. >> correction, he was not her husband, her exboyfriend travis alexander. how difficult would it be to represent a defendant like this? >> she's very difficult because you just want to her. it's such an overkill she slaughtered this man shot him stabbed him nearly 30 times and split his throat. it's difficult for the jury to feel sympathy for her. you want the jury to see that she is so crazy so out of whack, a socio path, clearly something has gone wrong in her life, brain and head. michael: it seems this is about the sentencing. you represented phil sector. they've made a movie and guess what, the bio pick has someone playing linda kenny biden.
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let's look at this scene with helen mirren. >> shut up, phillip. you know the difference between your different behaviors? >> i act the same with everyone. >> no, nobody does. you didn't act the same around the beatles like you did with an autograph seeker. you can control your behave. why is this important? because if you don't you're going to jail for the rest of your life. the prosecution is going to do everything in its power to enrage you because that's all they have. michael: so my first question is what was al pacino like? >> everyone was wonderful hbo,al pacino, helen mirren. the passion they brought to the roles, i'm humbled to have hear play a defense attorney like me. michael: was she accurate, did she pick up on the things you
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wanted her to pick up on? >> the problem is, i couldn't tell him what exactly had happened, because of the breach of attorney-client privilege. what helen did was pick up on the compassion and pick up on the drive that i had when i represent any criminal defendant, especially one that i think is not guilty based on the evidence, but guilty in the public's eye based on character and things such as hair. michael: you bring that up. let's take a look at the thing such as hair. take a look at this picture. >> charged with killing an actress. michael: we don't have that picture right here, but, you know, you mentioned that he was found guilty in the public eye and it was because of photos like this. there he is. that's your client. that was not at the trial when you represented him. how difficult a client was phil specter, linda? >> phil specter was a very easy client to represent because i truly believed in his in sense
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frankly. it's difficult to represent someday that everybody hates. there in lies the problem. when you get to a trial that involves somebody else's live where a tragedy of a killed person is the issue and you wake up and they're focusing on hair, they even discussed my hair. millions of dollars and they discuss hair. that is the theme david is exploring, why do we do that as a society instead of exploring evidence. >> we're all excited here at the "the young turks." it will premier this sunday on hbo. thanks for sharing your opinion about this wild trial with jodi arias and the phil specter trial. michael: when we come back, we move from the silly and sad to drones the drone story just doesn't end.
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>> and now it's going up. (vo) now, it's your turn. (vo) connect with the young turks with cenk uygur. >> it's go time.
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michael: late last year, president obama was warned that the nation's intelligence community has been distracted from what they ought to be doing, not focusing on... focusing more on the drone programs military strikes the intelligence community is not so involved with. john brennan who oversaw the drone program has now been put in charge of the c.i.a. here is mr. brennan. >> it is a secret war and how
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hidden it is the revelations that america has a secret base in saudi arabia, used to launch drones throughout the region, a tactic against terror, which has grown 700% under the obama administration. the man who signs off on the kill list from a basement office in the white house, john brennan, unpakistan alone, there have been more than 300 drone strikes in the last decade, killing thousands of al-qaeda and taliban but more than 300 civilians, as well. a world away, in remote village you can hear them, like a decides stand muted chain saw. michael: and that, of course is abc news covering that story. we invite now lindsay moran the author of blowing my cover with,
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my life as a c.i.a. spy. lindsay, thanks for coming on "the young turks." >> thanks for having me. michael: we don't know as americans this is unusual for the intelligence community to be working so tightly with the military. >> we've always supported the military and they've supported us. where we've seen a huge shift particularly with this drone program is that the c.i.a. seems to be less and less in the business of gathering and analyzing intelligence, and much more in the business of targeting people for drone strikes. i think it's time to take stock of that program, you know, both the moral and ethical implications of the drone
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program and strategic implications. this way to fight terror is like cutsing off the head of the hydra. are we making more enemies creating more terrorists. that i think another thing that we haven't seen, but that is certainly happening in the c.i.a. is a kind of culture shift in the c.i.a. it used to be that the case officers, which is what i was people who collect human intelligence were the most important part of the agency. i think we see more and more the targetters people who find targets to hit with drone strikes, you know, in the film zero dark 30, the character of maya is based on a real life c.i.a. not operative but a targetter. that's a very different role. i think that now it's time for the agency to take stock. i mean, i think we've let a lot of other issues creep up on us, because we've been so busy fighting counter terrorism in what is essentially a short-sighted manner.
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>> you mention counter terrorism. that there were 300 employees on the day of 9/11, and now there are 2,000 employees, one in 10c.i.a. employees works in counter terrorism. let me ask you play a tiny bit of devil's advocate, business has changed and so has the business of spying, so the intelligence gathering of the 19 60's 1970's, 1980's, 1990's, does something like that become dad so this is how the c.i.a. needs to look at this point? >> well, i think i've often argued that the c.i.a. needs to be a smaller more nimble and less bureaucratic agency. we need people who can kick indoors on saturday and be in a cocktail party on sunday. similar to mossad combatants.
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they tend to throw money. the backle of the iraq war and of our own making, based on faulty intelligence or even false intelligence from the c.i.a. my background was in the former soviet block countries. i was taken out of russian language training and surged to iraqi operations to provide support for the war. we had this huge station in baghdad, and in afghanistan and in those kind of places, the security situation is such that it's very difficult for c.i.a. officers to act i have not a traditional manner, that is go out and have a clandestine meeting when you're leaving the green zone in a humvee. certainly in those environments, we have to act differently. we've let certain things slide the cyber threat from china and
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nuclear threat from iran that i think deep cover small nimble, elite covert operatives could do a really good job of collecting intelligence. we need to get back to that. michael: it does make sense. you know better than everybody that you can change while still employing some of the important parts of the past. one of the members of the committee that warned the president about the distractions in the intelligence committee former senator david born is on that committee. he said: michael: it sounds like he agree with the senator. >> i do agree with him. you know, the c.i.a. was slow to change after the end of the cold war and then we were caught flat-footed and september 11 occurred, the biggest intelligence failure of our lifetimes. i think the reason that the
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c.i.a. is so slow to change, and can be so short-sighted is because it's a huge bureaucracy and we keep adding layers when i think we should be scaling back on it. >> one of the other things that should come as no surprise to anyone when looking at the biggest threats to our country it also seems to go back to cyber threats and our ability to assess those threats get involved in countering those threats. james claper said: michael: is this a place where the intelligence community should be much more active than they are now? >> absolutely. when i left the agency in 2003, nobody was talking about the cyber threat at that time. they're very much, i think the c.i.a. is very much behind the
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eight ball on that issue approximate. we've seen in, you know, all of washington has been completely hacked. the cyber threat is, it can seem unsurmountable, but it's something that we absolutely should focus our attention on. think about a drone getting hacked. that's a scary -- michael: that's a terrifying thing. i am going to go home, knock a door down and go to a cocktail party. >> good for you. michael: thanks so much for being on "the young turks." when we come back, we'll look at the world of climate change and a new device that may do wonders with the sun. >> by far that was probably one of the scariest waves i've seen come through houses. the amount of water i've seen come through i've never seen anything like that. anything.
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michael: climate change a story not going away, but what's happening at stanford university, they seem to have created, in vented a device that actually increases by 100 times the amount of energy and electricity they are able to harness from the sun. the new device uses a process, i don't even have to tell you what it is called. pete is what they're calling it, capturing both light and heat. here is a look at what some of the climate crisis around our word have come to. >> extreme weather in the united states, the east coast is hit by super storm sandy. in its aftermath some question
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whether extreme weather is linked to global warming. >> this is a simulation taken from al gore's famous film, an vin truth showing if the worse case does happen, this is what's going to happen. obama: there have been an extraordinarily large number of extreme weather events. i am a believer that climate change is real, it's impacted by human behavior, carbon emissions and we've got an obligation the to future generations to do something about it. >> things like pete harness that energy and leave less of a carbon footprint, a huge problem in climate change. two studies show the devastating impact of exsupreme climate change. first is the global warming study:
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michael: think about that. more katrinas, .72% of a degree. that that's nothing. and that's why science actives working so hard at this. also, this global warming study category four and five hurricanes in all ocean basins have increased at a rate of about 25% to 30%. this is no joke, this is science. let's bring in a science nick maloshus as stanford, thanks for being on "the young turks" today. >> thanks for having me. michael: tell us what kind of big news pete is. how innovative and exciting is this for people really worried about this issue? >> i think it's a really
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interesting technique in that it adds to the efficiency of systems already in place. if you think about these large power towers where you take reflective mirrors and focus it on to a central tower to create steam, this increases the efficiency so it becomes economically viable. michael: explain what we are looking at here. we are looking at pete. explain what's going on, that sort of yellow gray thing at the top and take us through how it works. >> yeah, so this is a simplified diagram of how the physical process would actually work. we have two parallel plates of materials, in this case a semi conductor. as the light comes down on to the top material, it excites the carrier's electrons and heats up the material at the same time. if it gets hot enough, it actually emits those materials into the vacuum group between and is collected at the bottom
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electrode. this is kind of like what would happen in your old t.v. with an electron beam coming out hitting the material and hitting the stream. all the waste heat then that is not used in the electricity production is actually dumped down then to a steam cycle below it. you can maximize the total yield of energy you are getting out of the system. michael: it only takes to a scientist to realize how little one knows, because this is amazing stuff to me. the current efficiency of these let's look at the device's current efficiency, 2% efficient. then you go to the 55% to 60% increase by using pees. tell us about that. is that accurate, that this is just such a jump up? >> well, when we first reported this new idea three years ago it was somewhere around 10 to the minus 4% officials. it was just a demonstration
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system that this if i say sicks does occur and we are not completely off base here. what we've done since is taken real materials and shown look, it's not only a decent idea, you can actually get practical amounts of energy out. we're at 2%. it's not commercially viable yet. we i had with the major block to get to that total efficiency that we'd be able to get in combination with some of these power tower type technologies. michael: that's great. nick thanks so much for all the great work you're doing up at stanford. we will be right back.
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